Why?
Chapter 8 - Killian
Owen kept drumming his fingers, a sure sign that he was thinking about other things. The four of us were in a meeting to discuss the current situation of our town.
I tried to ignore the nervous energy he was exuding, focusing instead on giving my report. I was in charge of watching for any shifts in the forest, and the patrol this morning had found some worrisome things. Not only had the fields flooded, but a few of our fishing lakes in the mountains had dropped drastically.
“They’re at least two meters below the normal water levels,” I said, lacing my fingers on top of the table. “I’ve instructed my second to come up with a plan to relocate the fish. We’ll harvest as much as we can, drying and freezing them, and fertilize whatever eggs we find and store them. Hopefully, the water levels return, and we can stock the lakes again.”
“But there’s a lot more than fish that will die with the lake,” Jace murmured.
I nodded, brushing my fingers through my hair. “That is true. It’s not an ideal situation, but there isn’t much else we can do at this point. My first priority is to try to preserve the fish we can eat. If the lakes disappear, then we lose a major source of protein.”
Jace nodded. “Owen, has there been any progress in the possessed warriors?”
Owen looked up from where he was glaring at the table. “Two of them have woken. They have no memory of what happened. It’s just like what the Burgess alphas described. But so far there’ve been no signs of violence. I’m positive that we are progressing as planned and the pack will be cured soon.”
He said it with full confidence, but he was lying. We all knew it. There was no cure for the situation, not with how we were going. The evil energy was getting stronger around town, and this was only the start of things happening.
The truth of it was, until we fully embraced Jasmine as our mate and things had truly changed, internally as well as externally, it was only going to get worse. We had the example of Burgess to prove it.
This time, it was my turn to ignore Owen and drum my fingers while he talked. It had been over a week since the wedding, and things had been…fine. Jasmine kept to herself, and we kept to ourselves. Occasionally, there were moments when we spent time together, but it always felt a little cautious. Which was understandable.
Yesterday was the first time she actually approached me, asking for help with a problem. She told me about an omega in a tricky position, being a single mother and working. I’d gone ahead and looked into it and found that her job hadn’t allowed the omega to take a proper maternity leave, and she’d also been denied her monthly childcare stipend.
It had been a headache to sort out, but I ordered a full audit of the stipend system to check for anyone else who had been denied for spurious reasons.
In the meantime, if Jasmine hadn’t felt like she could tell me about the situation, it would have continued to the omega’s detriment, and the detriment of her two children.
“I also believe we should make more efforts with the housing program,” Owen continued, bringing me back to myself. “I happened to go to the trailer park where Jasmine used to live, and it is in deplorable condition. It’s ripe to be the epicenterof disease. I know we’re low on funds, but I believe the trailers should be demolished and proper housing built.”
“What would this proper housing look like?” Jace asked.
“Perhaps an apartment,” Owen said with a shrug.
At this, Renz scowled. “That is not a good idea. People who are used to having their own homes and outdoor space don’t want to be forced into apartments. Rather than demolishing everything, the priority should be replacing the trailers in the worst condition.”
“That is less efficient—” Owen started.
“You can’t just knock down people’s homes, Owen,” Renz repeated, narrowing his eyes. “Seriously. Even if they are omegas, they deserve to have a say in how they live, too. Isn’t that why the Goddess told us to marry an omega? Because it’s about how we treat them?”
Owen leaned back in his chair. He scowled at the ceiling but didn’t answer.
Jace rubbed his jaw. “I understand what you’re saying, Owen. You want to replace the trailer park with something so the omegas have an improved living situation. Renz, you are considering the emotional impact. Neither of you is wrong. Let’s just find the middle ground here.”
“I suggest we canvas the park,” I said. “Get the omegas’ input on what sort of changes they need, rather than what we think they need. Perhaps the trailers are a symptom, not a cause.”
“That’s a good place to start.” Jace stood. “Unless there was anything else we needed to discuss—”
“There is,” I interrupted.
Jace’s mouth twisted in disappointment, and he sat again. “Yes?”
“We need to do some sort of bonding activity with Jasmine,” I said. I’d been thinking about it for a while, and this was the only thing I had come up with. “We should leave pack territory for a while, the five of us. We can use it as a chance to test our communication lines as well as have some time away from pack responsibilities. None of us know her, and she doesn’t know us except as men who tormented her for most of her life.”
“That’s because—” Owen started angrily.
“The Goddess wanted us to marry her,” I said, keeping my voice calm but firm. “It won’t be long before she goes into heat. With how things are right now, how will you feel after the heat is over? After we’ve had sex with her? Do you really want to have that with someone that you don’t know?”
